The Struggle in the Cave.
"Me an ole Bill warn't hired to run away, an' we wouldn't need to have
done it if them ar cowards had stood up to the mark like men; but when
I seed them Injuns comin', I knowed that the game war up--it warn't no
use to fight longer. I jest ketched a glimpse of ole Bill makin' for
his hoss, an' I did the same, 'cause I knowed that he would stay as
long as there war any chance o' beatin' back the Injuns.
"To jump on my hoss, an' cut the lasso with which he war picketed,
warn't the work of a minit, an' then, clubbin' my rifle, I laid about
me right an' left, an' my hoss, knowin' as well as I did what war the
matter, carried me safely out o' the camp.
"As I rode out on to the prairy, the Injuns started up on all sides o'
me, but my hoss soon carried me out o' their reach. As soon as I
thought I war safe, I hauled up to load my rifle, an' wait for ole
Bill. I felt a leetle oneasy about him, 'cause, if the Comanches
should onct get a good sight at him, they would be sartin to know who
he war, an' wouldn't spare no pains to ketch him; an' if they
succeeded, he couldn't expect nothin' but the stake.
"Wal, arter I had loaded up my rifle, an' scraped some bullets, I
started back toward the camp, to see if I could find any thing o'
Bill; an' jest at that minit I heered a yell that made my blood run
cold. By the glare o' the camp-fires, which the Comanches had started
agin, I seed the cause of the yell, for there war ole Bill on foot,
an' makin' tracks for the gully, with a dozen yellin' varlets clost at
his heels. In course I couldn't help the old man any; an', besides, I
knowed that they would take him alive at any risk, an' that, if I kept
out o' the scrape, I might have a chance to save him. Wal, jest at the
edge o' the gully he war ketched, an' arter a hard tussle--for the ole
man warn't one of them kind that gives up without a fight--he war
bound hand an' foot, an' carried back to the camp.
"In course the news spread among the Comanches like lightnin', an' it
had the effect o' stoppin' the slaughterin' that war goin' on, for the
Injuns all wanted to have a look at the man who had sent so many o'
their best warriors to the happy huntin'-grounds.
"Finally, some o' the varlets yelled out my name--the rest took it up,
an' clouds of the warriors went scourin' through the camp an' over the
prairy to find me; 'cause they knowed that whenever the ole man war to
be found, I warn't a great way off. It begun to get mighty onhealthy
for me in them diggins, so I turned my hoss, an' made tracks acrost
the prairy. I rid _some_, now, I reckon, an', in a short time, war out
o' hearin' o' the yells o' the savages.
"As soon as I thought I war safe, I camped down on the prairy, an',
with my hoss for a sentinel, slept soundly until mornin'. I then
started for the camp, or, rather, the place where the camp had been,
for when I got there, I found nothin' but its ruins. The Injuns had
burned every thing they did not want or could not carry away, an'
made off with their prisoners. Their trail war plain enough, an' I to
onct commenced follerin' it up, determined that I would either save
ole Bill or die with him; an', on the fourth day, durin' which time I
had lived on some parched corn I happened to have in the pockets o' my
huntin'-shirt, an' war in constant danger of being ketched by
stragglers, I seed the Injuns enter their camp. In course there war a
big rejoicin' over the prisoners an' plunder they had brought in, an'
it war kept up until long arter dark.
"The camp, which numbered 'bout fifty lodges, war pitched in a small
prairy, surrounded on three sides by the woods. The nearest I could
get to it without bein' diskivered war half a mile; an' here I tied my
hoss in the edge o' the woods, an' lay down to sleep.
"'Arly the next mornin' I war aroused by a yellin' and the noise o'
drums, an' found the hull camp in motion. Near the middle o' the
village war a small clear spot, where the prisoners war stationed.
They war not bound, but a single glance at a dozen armed warriors, who
stood at a little distance, showed that escape warn't a thing to be
thought of. All except two o' the prisoners sot on the ground, with
their heads on their hands, as if they wished to shut out all sights
an' sounds o' what war going on around 'em. The two who were standin'
seemed to take matters more easy. They stood leanin' against a post
with their arms folded, an' watched the motions o' the Injuns as
though they war used to sich sights. One o' these I picked out as ole
Bill, but, in course, I couldn't tell sartin which one war him, it war
so far off.
"A little way from the prisoners were the principal chiefs o' the
tribe, holdin' a palaver regardin' what should be done, an' a little
further off stood the rest o' the tribe--men, women, an'
children--waitin' the word to begin their horrid work.
"It war nigh noon afore the council broke up; then one o' the chiefs
commenced shoutin' some orders, an' one o' the prisoners was led out
o' the camp by two Injuns, while the rest o' the varlets set up a
yell, an' armin' themselves with whatever they could lay their hands
on, commenced formin' themselves in two lines; the prisoner, whoever
he was, must run the gauntlet. While the savages war fixin'
themselves, the white chap stood between the Injuns who had led him
out, watchin' what war goin' on, an' I could easy tell what he war
thinkin' of, 'cause I had been in sich scrapes myself. I knowed that,
as he looked through them long lines o' screechin' Injuns, an' seed
the tomahawks, clubs, knives, an' whips, all ready to give him a cut
as he passed, he thought of every thing he had done durin' his life.
But he warn't given much time for thinkin', for, purty quick, the
chief set up a yell to let the prisoner know that the time had come.
The chap didn't hesitate a minit, but jumped from the place where he
war standin', like a streak o' lightnin'. I see him disappear atween
the lines, and made up my mind that that chap war a goner, when, all
to onct, out he come, all right, and made toward the place where I war
standin'. I guess them Injuns never see any thing done quite so purty
afore, an' I knowed well enough now who the fellow war, 'cause there
warn't but one man livin' that could come through them lines in that
way, an' that war Bill Lawson. In course, the hull tribe, yellin' an'
screechin' like a pack o' wolves, war arter him in less nor the shake
of a buck's tail, and tomahawks, bullets, an' arrers whizzed by the
prisoner in a mighty onpleasant kind o' way; but Bill kept jumpin'
from one side to the other in a way that made him a mighty onhandy
mark to shoot at, an' the way he did climb over that prairy was
somethin' for owls to look at. But, fast as he run, I could see that
there war one Injun gainin' on him, an' I made up my mind that if the
ole man could hold out long enough to fetch him within pluggin'
distance o' my shootin'-iron, I would put an end to his jumpin' for
awhile. Nearer an' nearer they come, the Injun all the while gainin'
purty fast, an' when they got within 'bout forty rod o' me, I could
see that the varlet war gettin' ready to throw his tomahawk. I watched
him until he raised his arm, an' sent a bullet plumb atween his eyes.
The next minit the ole man jumped into the bushes.
"There warn't no time for talkin' or sayin' how de do?' for the rest
o' the Injuns war comin' up, an' we must put a good stretch o' prairy
atween us an' them afore we war safe.
"'Bill, says I, there's my hoss. I'm younger nor you be, so jump on
him, and be off in a hurry; I'll meet you at the ole bar's hole,
Good-by.'
"I didn't wait to give the ole man a chance to say a word, 'cause I
knowed that he didn't like to take that hoss; but I made off through
the bushes. Ole Bill seed that I war gone, an' jumpin' on the hoss, he
rode out on the prairy in plain sight, to get the Comanches to foller
him, which some of 'em did; but the ole braves, who had heered my
shot, an', in course, knowed that there war more'n one feller 'bout,
couldn't be fooled easy, an' thinkin' they could ketch a man on foot
sooner nor a man on hossback, they kept on arter me. But I war fresh
for a long run--a week's travelin' acrost the prairy on foot warn't no
new thing for me--an' as I never see the Injun yet that could beat me
in a fair race, I felt safe, an' knowed that I should come out all
right. I didn't waste time in tryin' to throw 'em off my trail, but
kept straight ahead at a steady pace, an' whenever an Injun come in
sight, me an' my rifle settled things with him in a tarnal hurry. This
made 'em kind o' keerful, an' afore sundown I war out o' hearin o'
their yells, an' a greenhorn wouldn't have thought that there war an
Injun in them woods. But I war too ole a coon to believe that they had
give up the chase, an' it warn't until the next mornin' that I camped
to take a leetle sleep, an' eat a squirrel I had shot.
"Wal, I traveled for 'bout ten days, durin' which time I didn't see a
bit o' Injun sign, an' finally found myself gettin' purty nigh the ole
bar's hole. As soon as I come to the woods that run down from the
mountain, I tuk to a creek that run clost by the cave, an' walked
along in the water, all the while keepin' a good look-out for Injun
sign an' for ole Bill. Arter I had gone 'bout a mile, I come to the
mouth o' the cave. It war a hole jest large enough for a man to
squeeze himself through, an' so covered up with bushes that a feller
might hunt a week without findin' it. The cave itself war 'bout as
large as this yere cabin; an' right acrost from the entrance war a
passage which led up to the top o' the hill. Me an' ole Bill had made
this ourselves, so that, in case our harborin' place should be
diskivered, we would have a chance for escape.
"When I come to the cave it war purty dark; so, arter listenin' awhile
for signs of Injuns, if there war any around, I crawled along into the
hole, which war, in course, as dark as pitch, an' commenced fumblin'
around for a torch that I had left stuck into the wall o' the cave,
all ready to be lighted. Arter searchin' 'bout for a long time I found
it--not where I had left it, but lyin' on the ground in the middle o'
the cave. This seemed suspicious, an' I begun to be afraid that
something war wrong. I hadn't seed no Injun sign near the cave,
neither had I seed any thing of ole Bill, an' I knowed that that torch
couldn't get moved clear acrost that cave without somebody had been
foolin' with it. I reckon my hand war none o' the steadiest, as I
lifted the torch an' commenced feelin' in my possible-sack for my
flint an' steel, thinkin' that as soon as I could strike a light, I
would jest examine into things a leetle.
"Wal, I hadn't made more 'n one blow at my flint, when the cave echoed
with the war-whoop, an' the next minit I found myself lyin' flat on my
back, with a big Comanche on top o' me.
"When I first heered the yell, I thought the cave war full of Injuns,
an' I'll allow it made me feel a heap easier when I found that the
feller that clinched me war alone, for I knowed that if any one Injun
could master my scalp, he must be a tarnal sight smarter nor any
red-skin I had ever met; an', without waitin' to ask no questions, I
made a grab at the varmint, an', by good luck, ketched the hand that
held his knife; an' then commenced one o' the liveliest little fights
I war ever in.
"The Injun war mighty strong, an' as wiry as an eel, an', although I
could keep him from usin' his knife, I could not get him off me,
neither could I get my left arm free, which, in fallin', he had pinned
to my side; but I kept thrashin' about in a way that made it mighty
onhandy for him to hold me. But findin' that I could do nothin' in
that way, I all to onct let go the hand that held the knife, an' give
him a clip 'side the head that would have knocked down a buck. It
kinder staggered his daylight some, I reckon', for I made out to get
my arm free, an', ketchin' the varlet by the scalp-lock, I had him on
his back in a minit. He yelled an' kicked wusser nor I I did when he
had me down, an' slashed right an' left with his scalpin'-knife; but
it didn't take long to settle matters, an' all fears that our
harborin' place had been broke up war put at rest by the death o' the
Comanche."